President Obama bids farewell to the Coachella Valley

Jun. 10, 2013

Loading Photo Galleries ...

Written by

The Desert Sun

President Obama waves goodbye to Palm Springs: President Barack Obama leaves the Coachella Valley after his historic two-day meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage.

President Barack Obama waves from the doorway of Air Force One at Palm Springs International Airport on Sunday as he leaves Southern California following a weekend summit at Sunnylands with President Xi Jinping of China. / Crystal Chatham/The Desert Sun

More

ADVERTISEMENT

PALM SPRINGS — Hundreds of Coachella Valley residents and visitors surrounded Palm Springs International Airport on Sunday morning to watch President Barack Obama rush up Air Force One’s stairs before the 747 lumbered down the runway and took off for home.

Bill DiGiacomo, 60, stood on a nearby lawn on Gene Autry Trail, waving his hand in the air and, above the plane engine’s roar, saying loud enough to hear above the noise, “Bye-bye.”

The Orange County resident was among dozens gathered at Atlantic Aviation, a commercial flight hub on the southeast side of the airport, for a clear, if slightly distant, view of the delayed takeoff under mostly sunny skies.

Obama arrived at the airport amid scorching triple-digit temperatures on Friday ahead of his two-day shirt-sleeves summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Annenbergs’ Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage. The two discussed cyber­security, tensions in North Korea and climate change during meetings that ranged from somewhat formal to very casual, including a stroll around the estate’s grounds with only interpreters in tow.

While the presidential talks led to common ground on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and convincing North Korea to eliminate its nuclear program, the two are still very divided on cybersecurity.

White House National Security adviser Tom Donilon said Obama warned Xi that the issue must be dealt with.

“We have a half-a-trillion-dollar-a-year trade relationship with China. We have all manner of interaction between the United States and China,” Donilon said. “We are highly interdependent countries and societies and economies, and again, we have a range of issues. And this is an issue that’s come to the fore and it’s one that is going to have to be resolved.”

The main accomplishment from the summit likely was an improved relationship between two of the world’s most powerful leaders.

“This relationship is too complicated to come away with the feeling that all problems have been solved or on track to be resolved,” said Matthew Goodman, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former Asia adviser on the National Security Council during Obama’s first term.

“It is an important reference point for the future ... but you have to remember we weren’t on a very happy trajectory in the relationship ahead of the talks.”

Clayton Dube, executive director of the U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California, said the meeting offered an important opportunity for both countries to convey messages to each other.

“The Chinese and U.S. governments agree at the most basic level that China's rise is not necessarily a threat to American interests and that violent conflict is neither inevitable nor desirable. The two sides also agree that the relationship is vital, complex, and evolving. Both sides have committed to working hard to improve ties,” Dube said.

“But large differences remain on important issues,” such as Chinese territorial claims to islands that put Beijing at odds with U.S. allies including Japan and the Philippines, Dube said. “It is essential the two sides continue to work hard to build lines of communication at all levels and in all sectors to ensure that frictions don't grow into incidents or violent conflicts.”

Dube said that continued discussions between Gov. Jerry Brown and Chinese leaders also could yield collaboration in developing green energy and transportation technologies. “Reducing the climate changing pollution our countries produce is a security necessity and moral imperative,” he said.

For all the relationship building, in the end, Xi’s domestic pressures could have the greatest impact on the Chinese taking action on the most maddening issues to the United States, from currency manipulation that led to a record $315 billion trade imbalance last year to insidious cybertheft and industrial espionage emanating from China.

(Page 3 of 4)

Xi faces falling GDP growth and a Chinese public that is impatient with stifling pollution in the cities, skyrocketing property prices and diminishing job prospects for new college graduates, of which an estimated 30 percent are unemployed.

Following the summit, which ended about noon Saturday, Obama stayed at Sunnylands, where he played the nine-hole golf course with childhood friends from Hawaii during the afternoon and again on Sunday morning.

At the airport on Sunday, noses, cameras and smart phones pressed up to the chain-link fence surrounding the runway. The crowd was a mix of families, couples and aviation buffs, many of whom had also come to see the big gray C-17s, the military transports parked at Atlantic Aviation that carried the cars and other equipment that travel with the president.

The C-17s had landed in Palm Springs ahead of the two-day summit.

“I thought it was fantastic. It was history in the making,” said DiGiacomo, who had come to the desert to be on hand for Obama’s summit. “We came over last night to check out the cargo planes.”

“I’ve seen Air Force One land twice, but I’ve never seen it take off. I want to get some pictures for my collection,” said Jim Atkins, 59, of Twentynine Palms.

With temperatures rising toward the 90s, those not at the fence sought out shade in the entrance way to the Atlantic Aviation building and beneath trees lining the parking lot. A sprinkler system, shooting water in different directions, kept the crowd cool, if a bit wetter than anticipated — and added an everyday note to an occasion many saw as historic for the valley and possibly the nation.

(Page 4 of 4)

Four generations of the Romanuk family from Desert Hot Springs were on hand, ranging from Zina Romanuk, 81, who left her homeland of Bulgaria after World War II, to her great-grandsons, David Sanchez, 7, and Jaden Sanchez, 10.

“Being here today is a miracle, especially the big airplane, how it can fly,” Zina Romanuk said about Air Force One.

“I’m a rabid Obama supporter,” said Bill Davis, who splits time between the Washington, D.C., area and Palm Springs. “I wanted to see our guy visit our vacation place.”

Sunday was the second time Frances Carroll, 65, of Desert Hot Springs had come to Palm Springs over the weekend to see Air Force One.

“Me and my husband came yesterday,” she said. “I like history; I like government. I just wanted to take a look.”

Some also reflected on the presidential summit’s outcome.

“I think it’s great they could get to know each other informally so they can contact each other in case of a crisis,” said Dr. Gerald R. Schultz of Rancho Mirage.

“I don’t think it was anything more than goodwill,” said John Sutter of Rancho Mirage. “But the groundwork was laid for communication. From this meeting, they’ll come back with so much to study about the other.”

Darrell Eisman of Palm Desert saw the summit as a gamechanger, not only for Chinese-American relations, but for valley tourism and Sunnylands.

“There are a billion people in China now who know about Palm Springs,” he said. “It opens the door for future meetings at Sunnylands. It’s nice to see the Annenbergs’ vision for Sunnylands coming to fruition.”